Alicia and Sarah are joined by their NCTE presentation partner Bill Visco to discuss one of his favorites, Ted Lasso. They discuss sports journalism, the shifting sports narrative, and the power of sports to unite people. At the end of this week’s discussion, they talk about the things they've been reading, watching, and analyzing outside of the classroom.
Literary terms of the week: Sports journalism, Sports narrative
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Music by Craig Harmann
Cover art by Matt Holman
Show Notes:
We welcome guest speaker Bill Visco, doctor of English Education at University of Akron, with whom we shared an NCTE session in November 2023:
Article, book chapter about Ted Lasso
Ohio Council of Teachers of English Language Arts Teacher of the Year 2023
Literary terms of the week:
Print era (just newspaper): gather, sort, report
Originally horse racing, boxing in American 1800s
Audience was upper class elite
Baseball changed everything in 1920s (Golden Age of American Sports), birth of press box at stadiums
Digital era (blogs, social media, video, podcasts, photos): gather, report, sort
Radio, TV, internet brought shift from play-by-play to statistical analysis, narrative around players
Sports Illustrated first published in 1954
European differences
Sports journalism began in Victorian era
Futbol, boat racing (cricket & rugby came later)
Sports played predominately at boys’ schools
London Olympics in 1908
Sports narrative
Conflict centers around team play, sportsmanship
Physical external sports represents abstract internal conflict
"I believe in Communism. Rom-communism, that is. If Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan can go through some heartfelt struggles and still end up happy, then so can we."
"So I've been hearing this phrase y'all got over here that I ain't too crazy about. 'It's the hope that kills you.' Y'all know that? I disagree, you know? I think it's the lack of hope that comes and gets you."
Similar to war narratives (goal is to win, conquer)
"For me, success is not about the wins and losses. It's about helping these young fellas be the best versions of themselves on and off the field."
What are we enjoying right now?
Alicia: Bookshops and Bonedust (Travis Baldree), His Dark Materials (Max)
Sarah: Simon, Sort of Says (Erin Bow), Argylle (movie)
Bill: Louder Milk (Netflix), Why Do We Say That? (Scott Matthews)
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Chapter 4.11 - Ted Lasso and Sports Journalism